Google Nest Minis constantly not responding, listening and then not responding, and/or mishearing

[Tsarnu]

I have two Nest Minis - one downstairs in the living area, and one upstairs. Over time they have been getting more and more unreliable, with around 50% of my voice commands not working properly. 

Problems:

• Device will "listen" (light up) when I make a command, seem like it's thinking and then do nothing.
• Device won't respond at all, even when I only 2 metres away and make a clear command.
• Device constantly mishears me:
  • "Open/Close the blinds" is constantly answered by playing a lullaby
  • "Can you hear me" is always answered by "Got it, your Spotify playlist called M.E."
• When making a command downstairs, often the downstairs device doesn't hear me, but the upstairs device will respond. This is even when I make a command within 1-2 metres of the downstairs device, meanwhile the upstairs device is around a corner, up some stairs, around another corner, and then in a different room.

Context:

• Both devices are within metres of a wifi router with strong internet signal.
• Both devices are sitting on desks with nothing above/around them that could affect the mics.
• Both devices are allocated to specific "rooms".
• I have modified the Hey Google sensitivity. 
• I have factory reset and soft reset the devices.
• I have retrained my voice recognition.

I cannot fathom how they have become so useless and unreliable. I'd welcome any tips or validation on the situation before I rage quit the whole thing and buy Amazon Echos. 

[SmartHomeH-TAGS]

What did you mean by soft reset? Turn off for a couple of minutes?

You could try a reboot via the Google Home app.

[Tsarnu]

Yes I've tried rebooting via the app, and turning it off and on again.

[SmartHomeH-TAGS]

I'm grasping at straws now as you've done almost everything I can think of except seeing if the Google assistant on your phone is responding and rebooting your Wi-Fi router.

Waiting for a Google Nest community specialist to reply to your would be next.

[Spartan75]

Any updates to this problem?

[sicsacol]

HI @Tsarnu,

Thanks for reaching out to the community page. I'm sorry to hear your two Google Nest Minis aren't consistently responding to your commands because they sometimes hear you but don't play the command. I understand how important it is to have your devices working as expected. I appreciate the information shared and the troubleshooting steps you've already tried, including resetting your Google Nest Minis and changing the sensitivity settings in the Google Home app. No worries, let's work together to get this resolved. To better assist you, I have a few questions:

• What color is the LED status light when you say a command on your Google Nest Mini?
• How long did your Google Nest Mini work as intended before you experienced this symptom?
• How often does this Google Assistant issue happen?
• Just to clarify, does this Google Assistant issue also happen with your other Google Nest Mini?

@SmartHomeH-TAGS, thank you for your help!

Please let me know the answer to these questions.

Cheers,
Jonathan